Microbial Production of Structuring Agents and Fat Replacers for Clean-Label Food Reformulation: A Food-Materials Science Perspective

The global food system is under pressure to deliver healthier, more sustainable, and clean-label products without sacrificing the sensory and technological quality that consumers expect. Reformulation strategies aimed at reducing synthetic additives, lowering saturated fat, and replacing animal-derived ingredients increasingly rely on novel structuring components that can build texture, stabilize interfaces, and sustain shelf life. Microbial biotechnology has emerged as a powerful enabling platform for generating such components, including exopolysaccharides, biopolymers, single-cell oils, mycoprotein-derived structurants, and biopolymer hydrogels. Yet the success of these microbial ingredients in real or model food matrices depends not on their production route alone, but on how they perform as food materials—a question that demands the analytical framework of food-materials science.This Research Topic aims to consolidate evidence on how structuring agents and fat replacers obtained through microbial processes can be designed, characterized, and deployed to enable clean-label food reformulation. The collection seeks original research and review articles that move beyond fermentation-as-such and place the analytical focus on structure–function behavior in real or model reformulated food matrices. Contributions are expected to characterize rheology, microstructure, interfacial and emulsion stability, texture and mouthfeel, oxidative stability, and shelf life, and to link microbial-ingredient design to reformulated-product performance. By integrating microbial biotechnology with food-materials science, the Topic will deliver actionable insights for developing next-generation reformulated products with improved technological performance, sensory quality, stability, and sustainability. Two scope conditions delimit the collection: a functional class restricted to structuring agents and/or fat replacers, and a food-materials science framing of all submissions.We welcome original research, reviews, and mini-reviews addressing:• Microbial production of polysaccharides, hydrocolloids, and biopolymers with structural function in food matrices.• Microbial-derived fat replacers and lipid alternatives, including single-cell oils and biopolymer-based fat mimetics.• Fermentation-derived ingredients with defined technological functionality (gelling, thickening, emulsifying, foaming, fat structuring).• Application of microbial structurants in clean-label reformulation of fat-reduced, gluten-free, or otherwise reformulated food matrices, with explicit structure–function characterization.• Rheological, microstructural, and sensory studies linking microbial-ingredient design to reformulated-product performance.• Oxidative stability, shelf-life, and storage behavior of reformulated products built on microbial structuring agents and fat replacers.• Industrial scalability, downstream processing, and sustainability of microbial structuring agents and fat replacers, with preservation of ingredient functionality.Submissions on bioactives, postbiotics, natural preservatives, vitamins, or other functional metabolites without a defined structuring or fat-replacement role fall outside the scope. Topic editors: Adriano Brandelli, Cristina L.M. Silva, Mara Cristina Romero, Alfonso Totosaus Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/79444/microbial-production-of-structuring-agents-and-fat-replacers-for-clean-label-food-reformulation-a-food-materials-science-perspective